A true aircraft rarity

In 1937, Focke-Wulf aircraft works in Bremen presented to the world the most modern high-capacity airliner of the day.

The performance of the Fw 200 provided a major boost to transatlantic air travel. In 1938, the aircraft was the first land-based passenger plane to fly non-stop from Berlin to New York.

The outbreak of the war put an end to the further spread of this highly promising commercial airplane. Built as a civilian aircraft to a Lufthansa specification, the Fw 200 turned out to be fit for limited duties only when it entered military service.

In 1981, the remains of this aircraft were for the first time located in a Norwegian fjord near Trondheim. Experts soon realized the value of the wreck. The remains of a Focke-Wulf Fw 200 were an absolute rarity – the world's only known airplane of this type!

In February 1942, the aircraft ditched because of a technical fault and has lain since then at a depth of over 60 meters (197 feet). In return for restoring a Ju 52 for a Norwegian museum by a team of Lufthansa enthusiasts, the plane was acquired for the German Museum of Technology in Berlin. But recovery proved complicated because corrosion was worse than under-water inspections initially suggested.

The Condor wreck disintegrated on being set down on the recovery platform on May 26, 1999. Despite all odds, the parties involved decided to embark on the ambitious restoration project. Working together with the German Museum of Technology in Berlin, EADS Airbus Deutschland in Bremen and Rolls-Royce Deutschland in Berlin-Dahlewitz, Deutsche Lufthansa Berlin-Stiftung's aim is to turn the badly damaged aircraft into a handsome piece of commercial aviation history. The project is put at ten years to complete. This will only be possible with widely ranging specialized knowledge from many different experts, broad-based honorary involvement and people willing to make generous donations. But there is no doubt in the minds of the experts: It will all be worth it even though the plane will never fly again.